Alien Caller (28 page)

He repeated the
technique with its other leg, with much less success, as it had
learned from his first attempt, but it still gave a good crack,
while another of its fists turned his other kidney to jelly. David
hoped they hadn’t ruptured, but knew it didn’t matter any more. He
had to fight. He got up slowly but noted the thing was slower
still, limping on both legs. He smiled, knowing he had crippled
it.

From there it
was fairly straight forward as he simply kept barrel rolling past
it, just out of reach of its arms, and attacked it from behind. But
it was still slow going. Its back was much stronger than he’d
expected and his blows had only a minor effect. On the other hand
each time he sent it to the floor it made a mighty splash down and
the floor buckled alarmingly. Still its lingering death gave him
time to recover again, and he used it well, directing his kicks
carefully, staying out of its reach and waiting for it to get
up.

At the end he
was in total command, yet it was still only with the greatest of
difficulty that he finally overcame the thing, directing a single
kick through to the back of its head, and crunching its skull. The
worst of it was that he knew five would be faster and deadlier
again and he had already taken some nasty injuries. But he couldn’t
give up, or Cyrea would start suffering again.

Broken and
bleeding from at least a dozen massive blows he waited for five,
while the crowds started cheering again. His kidneys had moved to a
place somewhere beyond pain; they felt like lumps of fire in his
sides and he knew they were damaged. Badly damaged. And the rest of
his flesh wasn’t much better, especially when he kept seeing the
spattered blood all over the floor and knew it was all his. Robots
don’t bleed. But at least he was still breathing. And the crowds
were still cheering. Once they stopped he knew it would be because
the next match had started. He knew some were wagering on him from
the cheers, but he also knew more than a few would be betting on
the robot. They weren’t fools.

Five when it
came made four look like a pussy. It had only two arms and no
knives, but it stood seven feet tall, was built like a brick shit
house, and still moved faster than the others. Much faster. It was
the first one he hadn’t been able to evade on its first run, and he
found himself propelled towards the barrier, with at least one
broken rib from the instant it entered the arena. It moved even
faster than he could see.

With it David
knew his only hope was to use its size against it and try tripping
it, which he did, and the explosions as it tore the floor apart
were music to his ears. It had to weigh four hundred pounds yet it
moved like a rocket ship, and was coordinated to boot. No matter
how fast he moved it was faster, and every single time he connected
with it, it got him back. Hard.

To make things
worse, five also learned very quickly. It was smart. On his third
attempted trip David found himself literally hurled at the far
barrier, a throw of thirty feet, and even as he was coming down he
could see it was coming for him. It had caught him up with him even
as he flew.

There was
little he could do. He punched it in the top of the head with all
the strength he could muster, but it had little effect as he
discovered its head was armoured, and he took three or four weighty
blows in the process. Only the fact of his angle of descent and his
rapid twisting stopped them being deadly. As it was he felt more
ribs cracking ominously, and a stinging numbing pain told him his
ear was history, probably torn off along with some of his face. It
was unimportant.

He carried on
in his fall head first down the robot’s back, the effect of gravity
rather than anything he’d actually planned, but it was still a good
position. It gave him a chance. Desperately he grabbed at its waist
at the last instant. It was a big waist. Using his hands and what
little strength he had left, he swung himself between its legs,
punching where its balls would be if it were a man. He should have
known better, it had none. Finally he grabbed its ankles, swung his
legs up and looped them around its waist and used his momentum to
pile drive it head first into the ground backwards, like some
insane wrestler. Yet no matter how crazy the move was, it worked.
He celebrated as he felt the robot fly backwards, and positively
cheered when he felt it hit, its entire body bouncing on its
armoured skull.

The floor
cracked under its four hundred pounds of armoured weight, and the
sound was like a detonation in the chamber. It was a phenomenal
blow, and he knew it was one of his best. A man, any man would have
been killed instantly, his skull crushed and neck shattered, but
five just looked angry. Very angry. David felt the first twinges of
despair just then, and forced them away. The thing might be
indestructible but he had no choice. Either it would be destroyed
or he would be.

It rose
unbelievable quickly, and came at him again while he was still
trying to regain some breath. It wasn’t to be. Knowing it was his
only chance, he dropped and quickly slid between its feet and by
some miracle succeeded, and tried the same move again. This time he
drove it even harder, and watched the entire floor ripple as its
head finally broke through the steel plate. That would teach it for
having too wide a stance. Unfortunately it corrected its stance the
next time and he was suddenly out of options. And five wasn’t even
slowing down.

The next time
it attacked he went for the eyes. A desperate direct two fingered
jab at its left eye which thankfully connected. In a man it too
would have been a killing blow, but instead he felt his fingers
recoiling as the metal eye popped out. In return the side swipe of
a punch threw him around the arena again like a leaf in a storm,
while a second reflex punch turned his buttock into a mass of pain
and he landed heavily. He just rolled as the thing charged him,
unable to stand for a few seconds, and for once it was enough as it
missed him with the lethal undercut. At last something finally
seemed to have slowed the thing down, as it lost some of its depth
perception. Enough to give him hope. Hope was all he had left.

As it came at
him again he finally had a plan. Not much of one. In fact it was
really just a continuation of his old one but at least it gave him
a little hope. Dodging quickly to its blind side, he looked for and
found the spot he wanted, and then placed himself between it and
the machine. Taunting it, seemed to make five angry, and it came at
him in a rush. He couldn’t have asked for a more foolish
mistake.

At the last
possible instant he dropped, barely getting out of the way of its
arms, and tripped it again. But this time he added his own weight
to the creature’s fall, pile driving it again from behind into the
already mangled floor. Its armoured head connected once more and
there was another terrible crash as it literally split the steel
floor apart. But there was a price to pay even as he celebrated.
One of its flailing arms caught him on the chin and he felt his jaw
break while his head became distinctly woolly. Then its foot,
moving like a bullet, caught him in the hip again, and he felt
bones grinding together painfully. Even when it was damaged and
being flung directly away from him Five was fast enough to be
deadly.

David reset his
jaw as best he could and tried to shake the damage in his leg out,
barely noticing the pain, while Five rose and attacked again, like
a rattle snake. It might not be as coordinated as it had been at
the beginning, but it hadn’t slowed down any. This time it charged
and he tripped it with a leg break, taking the customary punch to
his thigh in his stride. He got up, surprised he still could but
thankful his long bone wasn’t broken and waited while it splashed
down.

He had no time
to give in to the pain as he saw that five was rising again. This
time it was injured. Maybe even badly injured, and he knew he had
it. But the hole it had rent in the floor wasn’t big enough yet. He
had to get it to charge him once or twice again at the critical
spot, or wait for six. And with the number of injuries he’d already
sustained he knew he couldn’t take number six. He still might not
survive against number five.

He feinted at
it, slowly getting it to swing back at him, and as a tactic it
seemed to work. The thing had no understanding that it was being
baited. In fact it had little understanding of anything any longer,
so the head blows had apparently had some effect. But it had enough
blind aggression that it followed him around the arena with
murderous intent. The silence of the crowd was also his ally, as he
realized they were still not counting the machine out. They hadn’t
seen his plan. He started to hope.

But Five had
other ideas. One second it was being slowly baited around the
arena, the next it had fired up the turbos and was coming at him
like a bullet. David desperately threw himself sideways again and
tried another leg break, which thankfully worked. As he watched it
splash down he kept wondering how many more times he could use that
simple move without it learning. But he also celebrated as he
watched a whole three meter long strip of buckled deck simply rip
loose in front of it as Five slid along the floor. The robot had
rolled the top layer of steel decking up before it like a rug on a
polished wood floor.

Better yet it
took time rising, and he took advantage of its hesitation to jump
on its back and pile drive it with both feet back into the floor.
As a tactic it wasn’t subtle, but it was lethal. If Five had been a
human, his spine would have been crushed by his more than two
hundred pound weight. But the robot was far stronger than that and
his blow was merely another annoyance. It shook David off like a
flea and made his way to his feet, though finally it was beginning
to look a little unsteady on them.

Fortunately
Five wasn’t the sort of robot to let little things like wobbly feet
stand in its way. It simply leapt straight at David. The only
warning he had was when he watched its knees flex, and that, even
as injured as it surely was, was barely enough. David threw himself
sideways, feeling the whoosh of air as the robot flew past him,
then two more powerful blows on his thigh and shoulder. It impacted
on the barrier and was rebounded on to the floor, hitting with a
thump that would have put a cannon to shame. David by then had
enough sense to jump to his feet and pile drive it once again into
the metal floor. This time he managed two good leaps before the
robot shook him off like a flea. Each one drove the robot hard into
the floor.

When it got up
this time, he could see the damage it was starting to take. Its
face was flattened, its furry chest dented, and the previously
broken eye had disappeared completely. But it was still very fast
and unbelievably strong, and utterly savage. It was also inventive.
Out of the blue the robot tried a looping take down of its own, and
David only avoided it because of its lack of depth perception. Its
foot fell short by inches because it couldn’t tell how far away he
was. But a miss was as good as a mile and David took the advantage
of its mistake to attack its other stationary leg, and heard a
satisfactory crack as its knee broke.

There was no
doubt about it, he was finally starting to hurt it. He risked a
smile through the pain, and rediscovered his broken jaw. Another
reminder that he was in serious trouble as well. He wouldn’t
survive another robot.

From then on
David was in control. The robot limped and couldn’t accurately
judge his distance, and that was just barely enough to give him the
victory. David just kept doing take downs, slamming its metal
carcass into the floor with a series of satisfactory thumps, while
watching the floor buckle and break underneath it.

It was slow
going as the robot was too tough to break, and too stupid to know
it had lost. It was also dangerous as he kept taking more damage
himself. It was still unbelievably fast and powerful and he flew
around the ring several more times. But for every take down he
watched the various hollows and holes in the deck becoming larger
and larger, while the robot moved more and more awkwardly. Four
hundred plus pounds of metal makes a major impact on even the best
steel plate.

Then finally he
saw the second layer of deck plating break under one of the
machine’s body blows, and he could see some hope. Literally. He
could see the room underneath. A darkened chamber filled with what
looked like shelves and boxes. A store room. Exactly what the
doctor ordered.

The sight of it
filled him with new energy, new hope. There actually was a way out
of this nightmare. Seeing his salvation so close and Cyrea’s rescue
not far behind, he started taking the fight once more back to the
robot. No longer waiting for it to charge him with its seemingly
inexhaustible strength he started baiting it, and then tripping it
even as it took the bait. Leg breaking it again and again into the
deck, and for good measure, jumping up and down on it after, until
the entire floor looked like a minefield had exploded in it.

Then finally,
after another back breaking judo flip, he knew it was finally time
to end it. Time to try and escape and save Cyrea.

He stood and
waited, just in front of the large hole it had made, until five
made up its mind and decided another charge was its only answer. It
came at him exactly as he had hoped with a wide stance so it could
cope with its lack of balance, and he repeated his original take
down, sliding feet first through its legs, looping his own legs up
and around its waist, grabbing its ankles and then with all his
strength lifting it up and backwards, pile driving its armoured
head directly into the most heavily damaged section of floor. This
time the results were much more gratifying, as a section of deck
the size of five’s chest simply buckled and then gave way as it
pierced it like a needle. And best of all the robot was simply
stuck in it, upside down, arms and legs waving randomly. It was no
longer a threat. But then he realized, it was also plugging his
escape route like a cork.